Chapter 17 – It’s Actually a Person?!

“Sorry, I woke up a bit late today,” Su Miaomiao apologized.

“Not at all, not at all. This old man just couldn’t sleep and got up early. Come in, I’ll show you around the clinic,” Old Zhao said warmly, leading Su Miaomiao into the house.

Old Zhao had been a soldier on the battlefield in his younger years. After the war, he returned home only to find that his parents had long passed away, and his newlywed wife had drowned herself after being persecuted by the enemy.

By the time he came back, Old Zhao was already nearing fifty. He had lived alone ever since.

Thanks to years of military service, he had learned to read a bit. He started studying traditional Chinese medicine on his own, and after all these years, he had at least scratched the surface of the field.

Later on, Village Chief Wang Hongjie asked him to turn his home into a village clinic to treat the local villagers, giving him full daily work credits.

But calling it a clinic was a bit generous—really, it was just a run-down old house.

In the yard, herbs were spread out on bamboo trays to dry in the sun—all gathered by Old Zhao himself from the mountains.

Su Miaomiao took one look. These herbs were all very common, and not in great condition either.

“These herbs are all gathered by me,” Old Zhao explained, noticing her expression. “But I’m getting old now. I can’t climb the mountains anymore, so I just pick what I can find near the base.”

“How much medicine is still left in the clinic?” Su Miaomiao asked.

“Just what you see here. There’s been a drought this year, and the mountains have a lot fewer medicinal plants than usual,” Old Zhao sighed.

Su Miaomiao frowned at the small pile of herbs—barely enough for three doses.

“Grandpa Zhao, there aren’t nearly enough herbs here. Even if we can diagnose a patient’s illness, we won’t be able to prescribe anything. I’ll go up the mountain and look for more,” she said.

“I thought the same, but the mountain paths are rugged. Be careful going alone, and don’t go too deep—there might be wild animals,” Old Zhao warned.

“I’ll be careful,” Su Miaomiao nodded.

She slung the bamboo basket Old Zhao gave her onto her back and headed for the back mountain.

The mountains were fairly bare. At this time, there was no gas or kerosene for cooking, and the villagers couldn’t afford coal briquettes—everyone relied on wood for boiling water and cooking.

So the forest had been heavily scavenged. The paths were easier to walk, but there wasn’t much left in the way of medicinal herbs.

Su Miaomiao had no choice but to go deeper.

The further she went, the more overgrown it became. Thorns and dense underbrush made walking difficult, but also meant there was a better chance of finding rare herbs.

She searched as she walked, and slowly, the basket on her back began to fill.

But in her focused search for herbs, she didn’t realize she had ventured farther and farther into the forest.

When she finally looked up, she saw that the tall trees had completely blocked out the sky.

Su Miaomiao frowned, recalling Old Zhao’s warning about wild animals. Seeing that her basket was already about 70% full, she decided not to go any deeper and turned to leave.

But just as she took a few steps, she suddenly heard a sound behind her.

Whipping around, a cold, alert look flashed in her eyes.

Could it really be a wild animal?

She gripped her sickle tightly and crept forward—there was a faint scent of blood in the air.

Su Miaomiao was highly sensitive to the smell of blood. Her eyes lit up slightly.

If she could catch something big, dinner was about to get a serious upgrade.

She quickened her pace, but just then, a dark blur suddenly rolled down the mountain slope.

With a swift kick, Su Miaomiao sent the object flying.

Ugh… ugh…

A low groan followed.

Su Miaomiao froze. That didn’t sound like an animal—it sounded… like a person?

She cautiously approached the dark mass.

Then froze completely.

Damn. It really is a person!

That person was covered in blood, their face smeared with mud and grime. They were lying motionless at the base of a tree—it was unclear whether they were dead or alive.

Su Miaomiao frowned. Did I… accidentally kick someone to death?

Should I run now?

Cough, cough…

Suddenly, a faint cough escaped from the person’s lips.

Su Miaomiao’s footsteps, just about to turn and leave, froze in place.

“Forget it. I’ll take it as fate not letting you die.” Su Miaomiao crouched down, intending to check the man’s condition.

But just as she reached out her hand, a large hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.

A pair of sharp, eagle-like eyes locked tightly onto Su Miaomiao’s.

In that instant, she felt a strange familiarity—almost like meeting a comrade.

She could say with absolute certainty: This man has taken lives before.

“Who… are you?” the man rasped hoarsely.

Su Miaomiao was about to answer when her eyes caught sight of a badge on his shoulder.

“You’re… a soldier?” she asked.

His clothes were so stained with mud and blood that they were unrecognizable, but on his shoulder, a badge could still faintly be made out.

“You’re… from the village below?” the man—Lu Xiuyuan—clung to the last thread of clarity in his mind.

“I am,” Su Miaomiao nodded, her tone now much softer.

She hadn’t wanted to help before because she was wary of helping the wrong person. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for injured men by the roadside to be a trap.

Best-case scenario, you’d be scammed. Worst case, you’d lose everything—your money, your body, even your life.

There were plenty of bloody real-life cases like that.

But if this man was truly a soldier, then that changed everything.

“You’re badly hurt. I’ll take you down the mountain first,” Su Miaomiao said, moving to support him.

Lu Xiuyuan, however, stopped her. “I am General Lu Xiuyuan of the 123rd Army Regiment. I’m currently carrying out a classified mission. There was a traitor in our unit, and we were ambushed. I’m the only one left in the squad.”

“Are they still chasing you?” Su Miaomiao immediately caught the key point.

Lu Xiuyuan nodded. “They’re not armed, but there are a lot of them. If I leave with you, I might end up bringing danger to your entire village.”

“Then why are you telling me all this?” Su Miaomiao gave up on trying to move him.

There were only defenseless villagers in that mountain village—she couldn’t risk bringing trouble to them.

Lu Xiuyuan struggled to pull a letter from his chest pocket.

“This is a classified document we paid a great price to recover. I need you to deliver it.”

“You’re really going to trust me with something this important?” Su Miaomiao looked at the envelope.

The man was covered in blood from head to toe, yet the letter was somehow completely clean.

Lu Xiuyuan gave a faint, strained smile. “Judging by the strength of that kick just now… you’re obviously trained in something.”

Su Miaomiao froze for a second. Was he bringing that up on purpose?

“Comrade, what’s in this letter… it’s extremely important. Many lives were lost for this. I can die—but this mission cannot be lost. If you can complete it, the organization will definitely reward you.”

Lu Xiuyuan saw Su Miaomiao’s hesitation as rejection and gripped her wrist even tighter.

“Where do you want me to take it?” Su Miaomiao asked, looking at Lu Xiuyuan, who was now barely breathing. Her tone was solemn.